Health Insurance – Women of Reproductive Age

Narrative

The preconception health of women has been
strongly linked to future reproductive health outcomes
for both women and infants. Preconception
health care and counseling provide an important
opportunity to deliver risk-appropriate
screening, health promotion, and disease prevention
services to improve the health of women and
their infants.1 Individuals who are uninsured—
including women of reproductive age—are less
likely to receive preventive health services and
chronic disease management.2

In 2011, over one-fifth of reproductive-aged
females were uninsured (21.3 percent) representing
13.3 million females aged 15-44 years.
Younger (15-19 years) and older females (35-44
years) were least likely to be uninsured, 14.6 percent
and 19.2 percent, respectively, compared to
over one-quarter of those aged 20-24 and 25-
29 years. Hispanic and non-Hispanic American
Indian/Alaska Native females of reproductive
age were most likely to lack insurance coverage
in 2011, 37.5 percent and 32.9 percent, respectively,
compared to about one-quarter of non-Hispanic Black females (24.0 percent), one-fifth
of non-Hispanic Asians (20.2 percent) and one-sixth
of non-Hispanic Whites (15.2 percent).
The majority of reproductive-aged females
had private insurance coverage in 2011 (63.9
percent) alone or in combination with some
form of public coverage, while 14.8 percent had
publicly-funded insurance such as Medicaid.3
Non-Hispanic American Indian/Alaska Native
and Black females of reproductive age were most
likely to be publicly insured: 26.6 percent and
23.5 percent, respectively, followed by Hispanic
females (19.8 percent); 11.4 percent of non-Hispanic
White females had public coverage.
Medicaid, in particular, is an important safety
net for pregnant women, financing approximately
40 percent of all births in the United States.
This coverage includes prenatal care, labor and
delivery, and postpartum care up to 60 days after
birth.3 Of the 14.8 percent or 9.2 million
women of reproductive age who rely on publicly
funded insurance, the majority (88.2 percent) are
covered by Medicaid (data not shown in graph images or in data tables on this site).

*Estimates for private coverage include individuals that may have some other form of insurance; estimates for public coverage exclude individuals with any form of private coverage. Estimates may not equal 100 due to rounding.↑**Public or Government health insurance includes federal programs such as Medicare, Medicaid, and military health care, and individual state health plans.↑Source: U.S. Census Bureau. Current Population Survey, Annual Social and Economic Supplement, 2011. Current Population Survey Table Creator. Accessed: 04/23/13.

Information on this page can be found in the print version of Child Health USA 2013. Suggested Citation: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Health Resources and Services Administration, Maternal and Child Health Bureau. Child Health USA 2013. Rockville, Maryland: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2013.